


One Day, Maybe Next Week

by kikikryslee



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Harry, First Dates, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-12 15:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11739786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikikryslee/pseuds/kikikryslee
Summary: Louis was staring at him, expecting a response, and Harry was supposed to be the one coming up with that response, and he was so not prepared, so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.“Where were you? You weren’t on the bus for a few days.”Louis raised an eyebrow. “What?”“Uh… Sorry, I just- Um, sort of noticed that maybe you weren’t on the bus since last week. Not that I watch for when you’re on the bus or anything. That would be weird. Obviously, you have your own schedule, and I have mine. I just saw that you weren’t here, so I wondered what you were doing, or if something bad happened, like you got kidnapped or something. God, that sounded creepy. I promise I’m not threatening your life or something. Jesus, just stop me. If you have pepper spray, I would totally understand if you got me in the eyes right now.”Louis had his lips pressed together at this point, holding back a laugh. Harry really didn’t blame him for that.---Or, the one where Harry just really wants to talk to Louis. And when he finally does, everything he says just comes out wrong.





	One Day, Maybe Next Week

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written as part of an ongoing challenge. We each select random numbers and are given a specific emotion from the book 1000 Feelings For Which There Are No Names. To read the other fics written in this challenge, [click here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/ShortFic_Challenge_For_Which_There_Is_No_Name/works), or you can find the masterpost on tumblr [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/159679804243/1000-feelings-for-which-there-are-no-names-prompt).
> 
> Thank you so much to [Michelle](https://temporaryfixlouis.tumblr.com/) and [Molly](http://becomeawendybird.tumblr.com/) for reading this over for me! 
> 
> This week, my prompt was 511: The itch to press all the door buzzers at once.
> 
> The song title comes from 'One Way or Another.'  
>  
> 
> **DO NOT post this story or any of my other stories on any other websites. I'm not comfortable with that, and I hope that you can please respect that. If you see any of my stories on another website, please let me know. I am also NOT currently authorizing translations of any of my stories at this time. I hope you can respect that, as well. Thank you!**

Harry got on the city bus and sat down in the first available seat he saw. He was exhausted. Today had been his first day at his new internship at a business office downtown, and, while he was in great shape thanks to his boxing lessons and mile-long runs through the city, he’d never felt more drained in his life after attending a class at 8 o’clock in the morning, followed by the last four hours on his feet in his scuffed up dress shoes. He couldn’t wait to go home and collapse into his couch.

He looked out the window as the bus started to move. Only six stops to go until he reached his apartment building.

Just as he felt his eyes starting to droop, the bus came to a stop again. He looked toward the front to see who was getting off, and he suddenly felt more alert.

A beautiful man stood up, and before he made his way into the aisle, he glanced back to make sure nobody was already walking there. Harry saw his bright blue eyes and chiseled cheekbones. His light brown hair looked like it had been styled at one point earlier on, but looked a bit messier due to whatever struggles he’d faced during his day. He wore black pants that made his ass look amazing and an orange, white and blue argyle polo shirt that made his eyes look even more stunning. It looked like there was a logo on the left side, but the man turned too quickly for Harry to make it out. Harry wanted to know his name, but had enough sense to know that yelling after him and asking for it wouldn’t make a good first impression.

But then he was getting off the bus. Luckily for Harry, the man walked down the sidewalk past the side of the bus Harry was sitting on, so he could ogle him for a few more seconds. He had headphones in his ears, plugged into the phone that he held in his hand. He had a brown messenger bag slung over his shoulder, and walked with a confident gait, his head high and shoulders tall.

The bus started to pull away and Harry craned his neck to watch the man for every last second he could. He hoped he would be on the bus tomorrow. Maybe he could actually talk to him. 

\---

“How was it?” Harry’s roommate Liam asked when he entered their apartment that afternoon.

Instead of answering, Harry just walked over to the couch and plopped down onto it, face first.

“That good, huh?”

Harry just groaned.

“OK, then. Well, when you’re ready to tell me about it, just let me know. I’ll probably start dinner soon.”

Harry nodded, not bothering to say anything else since he knew he’d be falling asleep in just a few minutes. As he dozed off, he thought about the blue-eyed guy, and wondered if he would be on the bus again tomorrow.

\---

The next day, Harry was happy to see that the guy was in fact on the bus. He sat in the same seat as the day before and was staring intently out the window. He had his headphones in, but Harry still resolved to at least say ‘hello’ to him.

He rolled his shoulders as he walked down the aisle of the bus, hoping it would make him look a little more relaxed. But of course, it didn’t matter. When he was only three seats away, the guy jumped in his seat and turned his attention to his phone, which sat in his hand. He quickly read something on the screen and furiously started typing a response, and, well… Harry didn’t want to bother him if it was important. He continued walking by the guy, but at the very least, he was able to see the front of his polo shirt this time.

It read ‘Silver Valley Country Club.’ Harry knew about that place. It had been his dream to play golf there since his freshman year of college three years ago. The course was supposed to be amazing, and the views spectacular.

But the most important thing was that Harry also got a glimpse of the guy’s nametag, so now he had a name to go with the beautiful face.

Louis.

\---

The next day, Louis wasn’t on the bus, and Harry tried not to pout too much. He looked out the window in hopes that the time would pass quickly. But he knew that he’d much rather be looking at something – or, some _one_  – else.

He got comfortable in his seat, and sincerely hoped Louis would make an appearance tomorrow.

\---

“Yeah, I’m almost home now.”

Harry heard the voice of an angel as he boarded the bus on Thursday. It was high-pitched and airy, and spoken in such a low volume that Harry had to strain to hear it over the noise of the bus.

He had a guess as to who the voice might belong to, and as he turned his head, he realized he was correct.

Louis was sitting in a seat near the front today, and had his phone pressed to his ear.

“Yes, mom,” Louis said. Harry tried not to be endeared by his calm tone with his mother. “I just have to get home and change, but my bag’s already packed, so I’ll be ready when you get here. If you get to the apartment in like, fifteen minutes, then I’ll be ready.”

Harry hoped he wasn’t being totally creepy by sitting just two seats behind Louis today, but he loved the sound of his voice. It was so delicate and soft, and Harry wasn’t sure if it was the kind of voice that he’d expected to hear.

But he liked it, and would like to hear it all the time, if he was being honest.

“Yeah, mom, well the bus is stopping, so I’m going to go now. I’ll see you very soon, OK?… Yeah… Love you, too.”

Harry’s heart swelled at the ending of Louis’ conversation. If there was one thing he loved, it was a guy who was close to his family.

Louis hung up the phone and stood up when the bus came to a stop. He walked off and the doors shut behind him. Harry sighed, hoping he might get another chance tomorrow.

\---

Unfortunately, he didn’t. Louis wasn’t on the bus on Friday, and Harry couldn’t check over the weekend, since he didn’t have to go to his internship.

On Monday, when he got off the bus, he was disappointed at  _still_ not seeing Louis. He wondered where he was.

When he walked into his apartment, Liam noticed right away.

“What’s wrong with your face?” he asked.

Harry frowned even more. “What kind of question is that?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t, Liam. What are you trying to ask?”

“I’m trying to ask why you look upset. Did something happen at work?”

“No,” Harry said sadly.

“OK… Something on the bus?”

“No,” Harry cried.

“Well, that was believable. What happened on the bus?”

“Nothing.” Harry sat down on the couch and dropped his head back before letting out a long groan.

Liam walked over to the sofa and poked Harry in the head. When Harry didn’t react, Liam did it again. And again. And again.

“Will you quit it?” Harry whined.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to die alone, that’s what.”

Liam sighed. “I’m not drunk enough for this.” He turned and walked into the kitchen. When he returned, he had two beers in his hand and gave one to Harry.

“Thanks,” Harry said. He took a long swig, drinking down nearly half the bottle before coming up for air. When he did, he let out a huge burp.

“Feel better?” Liam asked as he sat down and took a sip of his own beer.

“No.”

“OK, then. I guess I’ll bite. Why are you dying alone?”

Harry just stared at the bottle in his hand, not answering Liam’s question.

“Harry!” Liam yelled. “Why are you dying a-?”

Harry clapped a hand over Liam’s mouth to get him to be quiet. “Stop shouting!”

Liam licked Harry’s palm, getting Harry to pull his hand away with a squeal of disgust.

“That’s so gross!” Harry said, wiping his hand on his pants.

“Tell me why you’re dying alone, then. Don’t make me shout it again. You know Mrs. Harvey next door probably heard me and will call the cops on us – again – if I keep yelling. So, it’s your choice.”

“Fine. There’s this guy-”

“I’m gonna need something stronger than this,” Liam muttered, looking at the beer in his hand.

“Do you want to know or not?” Harry asked.

Liam nodded.

“So, there’s this really hot guy on the bus, but he always gets off a stop after I get on. So I don’t really have time to talk to him. Anyway, he hasn’t been on the bus in a while, since Thursday.”

“So because he hasn’t been on the bus in four days, you’re never going to meet anyone else? Harry, maybe he’s on vacation or something. Or maybe his schedule changed somehow. You don’t actually know anything about him.”

“I know that his name’s Louis, and he works at Silver Valley.”

“Silver Valley?” Liam asked. “OK, so maybe he’s pulling earlier shifts. Is he our age? Does he go to school around here? Maybe he was having problems juggling a job and college classes. Harry, just relax. I’m sure he’ll turn up soon.”

Harry took another drink. “I hope so. Otherwise I’ll-”

“Die alone. Yes, Dramatic. I heard you the first twenty thousand times you said it.”

\---

The next day, Harry was having a really bad day. He showed up to work on time, but right before walking into the building, he stepped in gum. So he spent what he thought was a minute trying to scrape it off, but, in reality, was actually closer to ten minutes. When he finally walked in, he was late, and of course, one of his supervisors was making rounds and noticed.

Then, at lunch, Harry spilled some of the mustard from his sandwich on his white dress shirt, and had no idea how to fix it. Since throwing the shirt in the trash wasn’t an option, he spent the rest of the day with a mustard smear on his chest. Lovely.

Next, his dress pants caught on the edge of a shelf, and ripped a hole in the fabric. What started out as a small tear turned into a long rip by the end of the day.

And finally, at this very moment, Harry was running for the bus, because, of course, he left a minute later than he normally did, and the bus chose to be early.

“Wait!” Harry yelled as he pushed people out of his way. He hoped that the bus driver and other passengers would at least be familiar enough with him to know that he should be getting on at that stop.

Fortunately, someone saw him running, and the bus stopped before it crossed the intersection.

Harry hurried on, apologizing to the driver before grabbing a seat. He collapsed into the first available one, reminiscent of his first day taking the bus for his internship. He struggled to catch his breath, never having run that fast in dress shoes and khakis before. He tipped his head back and tried to relax as the bus moved and soon pulled over for the next stop. Which reminded him-

“Glad you made it.”

Harry’s eyes shot open just in time for him to see Louis reaching the front of the bus. He turned and smiled at Harry before walking down the steps, and Harry could hardly believe his luck. This shitty day was definitely turning around.

\---

On Wednesday, when Harry got on the bus, he just knew, deep down in his soul, that this would be the day he spoke to Louis. Like, really spoke to him. There would be actual sentences and genuine words exchanged in a pleasant conversation-like format. It was happening.

The only problem was, Harry had to find him first. As he took his first steps onto the bus, he examined the people that he saw, but didn’t spot Louis. He hoped he was here today. After yesterday, he had just assumed he would be. As he neared the middle of the bus, though, he was starting to remember that saying about people who assume things.

And then he tripped.

“Oh, shit! I’m sorry,” Harry quickly said, realizing he tripped over someone’s foot in the aisle.

He looked at the guy sitting in the seat with his hood up, and, when he didn’t immediately respond, Harry thought he didn’t hear him. He was going to repeat himself, when the guy reached up to his ear and pulled out one of the buds that sat there.

Then he turned around.

“Did you say something?” It was Louis, and, with the hood covering his head and face, Harry hadn’t even noticed him.

How silly of him.

But now Louis was staring at him, expecting a response, and Harry was supposed to be the one coming up with that response, and he was so not prepared, so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Where were you? You weren’t on the bus for a few days.”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Uh…”

“Sir, can you sit down!”

Harry and Louis looked up toward the front of the bus, and the driver was staring at them in his mirror. Harry quickly sat down in the seat behind Louis, and the bus pulled away from the curb.

“You were saying?” Louis asked, turning back toward Harry.

“Uh… Sorry, I just- Um, sort of noticed that maybe you weren’t on the bus since last week. Not that I watch for when you’re on the bus or anything. That would be weird. Obviously, you have your own schedule, and I have mine. I just saw that you weren’t here, so I wondered what you were doing. Because, I didn’t know if you were OK. Not that I could’ve done anything if you weren’t OK, right? Like, if you had been kidnapped, no one would’ve known. Oh, God, that sounded creepy. I promise I’m not threatening your life or something. Jesus, just stop me. If you have pepper spray, I would totally understand if you got me in the eyes right now.”

Louis had his lips pressed together at this point, holding back a laugh. Harry really didn’t blame him for that.

“No, no pepper spray, sorry to say,” Louis said. “I’ll take a name, though.”

“It’s- wait. What?”

“Your name? That way I know who to direct the cops to if I or someone I know go missing in the near future.”

Harry blushed. “Harry.”

“Hi, Harry. I’m Louis.”

Harry restrained himself from saying, ‘I know,’ as he felt the bus slowing down.

“Well, this is my stop, although I’m sure you knew that,” Louis teased.

Harry blushed even harder.

“Just a heads up, I won’t be here tomorrow, but I’ll be here Friday. I wouldn’t want you to worry.”

“God, why do I talk sometimes?” Harry whispered to himself.

“Hope I don’t get kidnapped between now and then,” Louis continued, standing up. “I mean, it’s not like you would know if I was, anyway… Or would you? Hmm…”

“I’m so sorry.”

Louis just laughed. “See you Friday, Harry.”

Harry nodded and as soon as Louis was off the bus, he dropped his head back and stared at the ceiling. “Who lets me out in public?” he asked himself.

\---

Louis was, indeed, not on the bus the next day. Harry felt it was probably for the best.

\---

But then, on Friday, there he sat, wearing a lovely pink and black striped polo shirt and sporting a big smile on his face.

“Harry, I hope you didn’t worry too much yesterday,” he said when Harry approached.

Harry sat in the seat across the aisle from the Louis and replied with, “No, I didn’t. Thank you for the update on your attendance, though.”

“Of course. As you can see I wasn’t kidnapped, either.”

“No, that’s because I was too mortified by what I said on Wednesday to attempt it.”

Louis snorted, clapping a hand over his mouth. Apparently, the sound had been unintended.

“Oh, my God, I can’t stop,” Harry whispered.

“Wow, you really don’t think before you speak, do you?”

“No, I’m so sorry. At this point, I’m thinking of buying pepper spray to give you just to hit me with the next time I say something creepy and stalkerish.”

“Well, I’ve heard that pepper spray hurts, so maybe let’s not do that. You know, you could just stop saying weird things.”

“That seems like the easy thing to do, so of course, that won’t happen for me.”

Louis smiled. “Is there a reason why you can’t talk normally?”

“No. Just general stupidity and awkwardness.”

“Well I’m sure you’re not stupid. You always come on the bus dressed nicely, in your slacks and fancy shoes.”

“My shoes aren’t that fancy,” Harry said. “I bought them on clearance at Macy’s.”

“Could’ve fooled me. They look expensive.”

“Thanks. They’re just for my internship.”

“See? If you got an internship, you can’t be  _that_  stupid. If you are, it might be just a little.”

Harry laughed. “Oh, now you’re making fun of me?”

“To be fair, I was making fun of you on Wednesday.”

Harry felt the bus start to slow down, so he knew Louis’ stop was coming up.

“Well, I’ll see you on Monday, I guess,” Louis told him. “Unless your internship is on weekends, too?”

Harry shook his head. “No, just Monday to Friday.”

“OK. Have a nice weekend, then.”

“You, too. I’ll see you Monday.”

Louis smiled at him as he got off the bus, and Harry hoped the smile he gave back looked normal, and not overly creepy, which was the vibe he was pretty sure he was just giving off at all times.

He could only hope.

It wasn’t until he got home that he realized that Louis said ‘you  _always_ come on the bus dressed nicely.’ Did that mean that Louis had noticed Harry, too?

With his luck, Harry figured it didn’t mean that, but that didn’t stop the small optimistic part in him from thinking… maybe it did.

\---

When he got home, Liam took one look at him and sighed.

“Guess you’re not dying alone anymore?” he asked.

“Nope!” Harry grinned widely. “I’m in love.”

Liam just threw a couch cushion at him.

\---

On Monday morning, Harry boarded the bus and found Louis smiling at him.

“Hey,” Harry said, sitting down in the seat in front of Louis.

“Hey. How was your weekend?”

“It was pretty good.”

“What’d you do?” Louis asked.

“Slept,” Harry answered immediately. “Well, I slept, but I also did homework and studied for a test I have Wednesday morning. How was your weekend?”

“Long. I worked the whole time.”

“What do you do?”

“Well, when I’m not studying or doing homework for class, I work at Silver Valley; I’m a golf caddy.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun.”

“It’s not,” Louis joked. “Like on Saturday, when some clients had a tee time at seven in the morning.”

Harry winced. “Ouch. That’s rough.”

“I know. But, it pays well, and if I’m nice to the people I caddy for, then I get good tips, too.”

“I’ve always wanted to golf there.”

“You play golf?”

“Sometimes. Not as much as I did in high school, though, when I was on the team.”

Louis snorted. “You had a golf team in high school?”

“Yeah. And I was the best player they had, too.”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised by that.”

“Trust me. I’m good.”

Harry felt the bus slow down, so he knew his valuable time with Louis was up for the day.

“Well, this is me,” Louis said. He stood up and added, “Listen, let me know if you ever feel like stalking me to work. I might be able to get you in to play a round.”

“Really?” Harry asked excitedly.

“Yeah. I have to see if you’re as good as you say you are, don’t I?”

Louis grinned as he walked off. When he walked by the bus, he waved at Harry, and it was definitely the best wave of Harry’s life.

\---

The next day, Louis was texting on his phone when Harry got on the bus.

Harry sat in the seat behind Louis this time, and waited until Louis finished what he was typing before saying anything.

“Something important?” he asked.

“Sort of. I guess.” Louis put his phone in his pocket and turned so he could see Harry. “It’s just my sister. She’s asking if I can come over tomorrow and help her with her geometry. She has a test on Friday, and she’s not prepared.”

Harry shuddered. “Ugh. Geometry. I love math, but geometry was torture.”

“I was surprisingly good at geometry. Maybe it was the shapes?”

“That’s like, all geometry was…”

“Exactly.”

“OK… Um, well anyway, good luck with that. Have fun.”

“I will. I like feeling smart about something for once.”

“You’re plenty smart! Come on.”

“Aww,” Louis cooed. “You’re cute when you’re all optimistic and uplifting.”

Harry blushed. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

They stared at each other for a moment, until the bus slowed down.

“Well, I’ll see you on Thursday,” Louis said, standing.

“OK. See you Thursday.”

As Louis slowly walked away, Harry couldn’t help but watch him go. He had on a blue, green and white argyle polo with navy blue slacks that somehow made his ass look better than it had before.

Plus, Harry maybe hadn’t had sex in a while, so there was that, too.

As Louis reached the sidewalk and started walking toward his apartment building, he glanced up at the bus and sent Harry a quick wink.

Harry’s blush only grew deeper, and Louis smiled and continued walking. Harry followed Louis with his gaze, happy that the bus wasn’t pulling off just yet.

“On or off, man?” the driver yelled.

Harry looked toward the front and saw that someone was at the bus stop, texting on his phone. He nodded at the driver and slowly made his way to the bus.

Harry shrugged, not in a rush, and looked back to the direction where Louis had gone.

He was still walking, but was digging around in his bag for something. After a moment, he pulled out a lanyard with some keys on it. Harry watched as he used his key to unlock the front door to an apartment building and made his way inside.

Harry hummed. So now he knew where Louis’ apartment was.

Not stalkerish at all.

The bus finally pulled away from the curb, and Harry turned around and saw the guy that was holding them up was finally on the bus. Still on his phone, he sat down in the seat in front of Harry, where Louis had just been. But then the guy shifted suddenly, and looked at where he was sitting.

He picked up a cell phone, and Harry’s eyes widened. It was Louis’ phone. It must’ve fallen out of his pocket.

The guy examined the phone before turning around. When he saw Harry staring, he asked, “Is this yours?”

Harry quickly nodded. “Yup. Sorry, man.”

“It’s no problem.”

Harry took the phone from him, but was now faced with a dilemma.

_What the fuck do I do now?_

Harry didn’t have a way to get Louis’ phone back to him, unless he went to the country club. But Louis said he would be on the bus again in two days, which probably meant that he wasn’t working tomorrow. So there went that idea.

Although… He now knew where Louis lived.

The problem was that, for as long as Harry had spoken to Louis, he’d been making jokes about stalking him and just being generally creepy. How terrible would it look if he just showed up to Louis’ apartment holding his cell phone?

This would only happen to him.

He felt the bus slowing down, and had about ten seconds to decide: keep the phone for two days and hope that Louis wasn’t mad that he kept it, or go and drop it off at Louis’ apartment now and hope that he didn’t call the cops on him.

Decisions, decisions.

The bus pulled over, the door opened and, without thinking too much about it, Harry shot up out of his seat. He hurried toward the front of the bus and stepped out, walking back the way they came.

He held his head high as he walked, but as soon as he heard the bus pull away again, the situation started to feel more real, and Harry’s heart was starting to race.

“What the fuck am I doing?” Harry asked himself. “What am I gonna say? ‘Oh, Louis, sorry to bother you, but I just found your phone on the seat on the bus and wanted to return it to you? What’s that you ask? How did I know where you live? Well, I was so busy staring at your ass when you got off the bus today that I watched you walk away, all the way back to your apartment building, and here I am. It’s no big deal.’” 

Harry shook his head. “He’s gonna fucking call the cops on me. I just know it.”

To his right was a woman waiting at the corner. She gave him a strange look and took a step away from him.

“Hello,” Harry said. He nodded his head and kept walking, thankfully away from her and her judgment.

He crossed the street, getting one block closer to Louis’ building. As he walked, he thought about things he could  _actually_ say.

“Someone found your phone and I wanted to bring it back to you. Sorry if I’m bothering you,” Harry said. “OK, that sounds normal. Now just to explain the whole ‘knowing what building is yours’ thing.’ I probably shouldn’t say that I was watching his ass.”

He crossed the street once more, now on the block that Louis’ building was on.

“OK. There was a baby crying on the bus and I looked back and saw where you went. That’s normal, too. I guess.”

A moment later, Harry was outside Louis’ building.

 _This is it_ , he thought to himself.  _I can do this._

And then he looked to the left of the door. Buzzers. Lots of them – twenty-four to be exact.

“Shit.”

All of the buzzers had last names next to them, a simple fact about Louis that Harry just didn’t know.

Anderson. Williams. Schmidt. Tomlinson/Horan. Jones/Keller. Nelson. Edwards. Kane. He read the list, getting more and more frustrated with each one.

He stared at all of the names for what was probably about five minutes, trying to figure out what to do. He turned away, starting to head back to the bus stop, but he stopped himself. He’d already come this far; he might as well actually attempt to get this phone back to Louis.

He looked back at the buzzers, wondering if he would get yelled at if he just hit all of the buzzers. A small – OK, maybe big – part of him wanted to just slam his hand down on them all and see what would happen.

“Hmm…”

If Harry was being honest, that wouldn’t be the worst idea he’d ever had. Without another thought, he spread his fingers and pressed his hand to the buzzers, hoping for the best.

Four lights lit up – Edwards, Corden, Jameson and Davis – and Harry waited and hoped for the best.

Edwards and Davis answered first, and Harry just said, “Louis?”

Davis replied with, “Nope, wrong apartment,” before hanging up, while Edwards said, “Who? Fuck off, dude.”

Corden kept ringing, but Jameson answered.

“Louis?” Harry asked again.

“No, that’s not my codename. Wait, you don’t sound like my usual guy…”

“Sorry, wrong apartment!” Harry pressed the button by his buzzer to disconnect the call. “Well this is going great…”

Closing his eyes, Harry hit his hand on the buzzers again. When he opened them, he saw that he got three apartments this time – Jones/Keller, Schmidt and Norris.

“Hello?” they all answered at the same time.

“Louis?” Harry asked. “Is that you?”

“No, I’m sorry,” Schmidt replied sweetly. “You have the wrong apartment.”

Jones/Keller, however, said, “No, fuck you. You call me again and I’m calling the cops.”

It was Norris, though, that had Harry wondering what his voice sounded like to other people, and whether or not it sounded like it belonged to a… ‘companion.’

“No, I’m not Louis…” Norris said. “Um, I asked for a chick over the phone. But… you sound cute, so I guess you’ll do…”

Harry had never hit a buzzer so fast in his life.

He called eight more apartments, getting a lot of variations of ‘wrong apartment,’ ‘fuck you,’ and ‘fuck off,’ as well as a few other expletives he’d rather not repeat.

He reached the next four apartments to call – Nelson, Humphrey, Kane and Tomlinson/Horan.

The lights next to the buzzers lit up as they rang, and Harry really hoped one of these apartments belonged to Louis so that he could go home with some shred of dignity.

Kane and Humphrey never answered, so Harry assumed they weren’t home. Nelson and Tomlinson/Horan responded at the same time.

“Louis?” he asked into the speaker.

“Not me, man; hang on,” Tomlinson/Horan answered in an Irish accent. Harry stood up straight, not even bothering to answer Nelson, who said, “nope” before hanging up.

“This is Louis,” came the most familiar voice of the day through the speaker.

“Louis?” Harry repeated. “It’s Harry!”

“Harry?”

“Yeah!” Harry said. Uncertainly, he added, “from the bus?”

“What- I thought the stalker thing was just a joke!”

“It was! Is! I swear! It’s just, you left your phone on the bus. It was left on the seat where you were sitting, and I just, um, wanted to get it back to you? Since you said you wouldn’t be on the bus tomorrow?”

“My phone?” Louis asked. “No, my phone is right-”

Harry could hear the sounds of patting, figuring that Louis was checking his pockets.

“Louis, I have your phone. I just wanted to return it to you.”

There was silence for a minute.

“Did you steal it?” Louis finally wondered.

“No! I swear! Someone got on the bus after you got off and sat down in your seat. Then he picked up your phone and held it up. I thought it was yours, so I took it, but I wanted to drop it off since I won’t see you tomorrow.”

It was quiet again. Harry shuffled his feet, not sure if he should continue speaking. Although, from past experience, that hadn’t worked out well for him, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

“Um… OK. Hang on,” Louis finally said. “I’m coming down.”

“OK.”

Harry took a few steps back, not wanting to be standing right by the door when Louis came out.

Before he could figure out what to say, the door to the building burst open, and there stood Louis. He had changed, Harry noticed immediately, into a pair of black sweatpants and a red T-shirt. He looked really cuddly, like Harry had maybe woken him up from a nap.

“Let me see the phone,” Louis said.

Harry held it out and let Louis have it. Harry held his breath as Louis looked it over, as if it might be a fake phone, a ploy for Harry to get inside the building.

With how serious Louis looked, Harry was almost afraid he would be proven right.

When Louis was done, he looked back to Harry. “Thanks. That was really nice of you to bring it by.”

“You’re welcome. I didn’t want you to worry over it.”

“Yeah. So… the obvious question. How did you know where I live?”

Harry was ready for this one. “Well, there was a, um, baby? Crying on the bus, and I looked to see what was wrong, and when I turned around, I, um, saw you go into this building, so that’s how I knew.”

Louis raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying Harry’s explanation. Harry knew it probably sounded better in his head.

“Really?” Louis asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“Yup. Really.”

Louis put his phone in his pocket and crossed his arms across his chest. “Now, you’re going to tell me the truth.”

“That is the truth!” Harry insisted.

“Now, you’re going to tell me the  _truth_ ,” Louis repeated, “or else I go get the pepper spray my roommate bought for me after I told him about the weird guy on the bus. Wait til he finds out you’re actually here. He’ll  _love_ that.”

Harry gulped. “Um… Well…” he sighed. “Don’t make me say it.”

“No, I’m gonna make you say it.” Then he had the audacity to actually grin.

If he didn’t look so attractive, Harry would’ve been more upset about it.

“OK, fine.” Harry took a deep breath. “Your blue pants made your ass look really good today, and I was watching you walk away.”

Louis’ grin only grew wider.

“Then, there was this guy, the one who first found your phone, actually, who was taking his time getting on the bus today. So, I turned around to see where you were, and then I saw you come in here. And that’s the truth.”

“And that’s what I believe,” Louis said.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Did you like how slowly I walked, too?”

Harry paused. “What?”

Louis laughed. “How slowly I walked. I wore my best pants for you; I wanted you to at least notice.”

“Are you serious? You wore those  _for me_?”

Louis nodded. “Yeah. I was probably going to ask you out on Thursday when I saw you again. Guess fate thought I was taking too long.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Yeah.”

They stood smiling at each other before Louis finally asked, “Are you hungry?”

“Starving.”

“Cool. I’m gonna go put on shoes and grab my wallet, but there’s a great burger place down the street, if you want to get some dinner.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great.”

“OK. Wait here a minute?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, no problem.”

Louis smiled again and turned around, heading back up to his apartment.

Harry leaned against the wall of the building, careful not to hit any more buzzers. He could hardly believe his luck, that the guy he was interested in was actually interested in him, too, despite his complete weirdness.

A few minutes later, Louis came back, now wearing sneakers and shoving a wallet and keys into his pockets. “Ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

They started walking down the sidewalk, and Harry soon heard Louis humming a song. It sounded really familiar, but he couldn’t place it right away. But then one part got really repetitive, and it hit him.

“Are you humming ‘One Way or Another?’” Harry asked. He knew he was right when Louis started singing the song instead.

“One day, maybe next week,” Louis sang, “I’m gonna meet ya. I’m gonna meet ya, I’ll meet ya.”

Harry shook his head. “Oh, my God.”

“I will drive past your house,” Louis continued, “and if the lights are all down, I’ll see who’s around!”

“ _Why_ did I bring you back your phone?”

“Because you think I’m cute and I have a nice ass. And I wore my best khakis for you. Oh, and also…”  

Louis grabbed Harry’s arm, pulling him to a stop. Then he leaned up and planted a soft kiss on Harry’s cheek.

Harry instantly started blushing.

“You’re pretty cute, too,” Louis added. “Now let’s go. I’m so hungry.”

Louis took Harry’s hand in his and tugged him down the street. Harry was only too happy to let him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! If you did, maybe reblog [this post](http://flamboyantommo.tumblr.com/post/163990294212) that I made? 
> 
> Hit me up on [twitter](http://twitter.com/angelique_lee) or [tumblr](http://www.flamboyantommo.tumblr.com/) if you feel like it! If you follow me on either, let me know who you are so I definitely follow you back!  
> <3


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